Postdoctoral researcher: Long-term ecological research on Lake IJsselmeer - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

Lake IJsselmeer is the largest reservoir of the Netherlands, providing important ecosystem services such as drinking water, fishing habitat, and flood risk protection. You will support a long-term ecological research programme on Lake IJsselmeer which is currently focused on water chemistry and phytoplankton. You will provide additional expertise to “add value” to the project. You will join a one-day pilot research cruise on the lake on 2 July 2026 and analyse the findings. Conduct and interpret analyses within your area of expertise that increase understanding of the functioning of Lake IJsselmeer and / or improve the methodologies and data pipelines for long-term sampling and analysis on Lake IJsselmeer. You prepare scientific publications and give conference presentations. This initiative is important to the strategic development of the Aquatic Ecology Department and you will be tasked with raising the profile of the Lake IJsselmeer project through a variety of commmuication channels.

HR adviseur - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

Wil jij jouw HR-expertise graag inzetten om bij te dragen aan ecologisch onderzoek met maatschappelijk impact? Werk je graag hands-on maar ook projectmatig in een dynamische, diverse en inclusieve organisatie? Dan zijn we op zoek naar jou!

Jij bent als HR adviseur het aanspreekpunt voor HR gerelateerde vraagstukken voor de leidinggevenden en medewerkers van een onderzoeksafdeling. Je informeert en adviseert medewerkers bij vragen met betrekking tot de CAO, wet- en regelgeving en het HR-beleid.

Voor de leidinggevende fungeer je tevens als sparringpartner. Je overlegt regelmatig met afdelingshoofden en senior onderzoekers waardoor je weet wat er speelt in bij de afdelingen die jij ondersteunt. Door deze korte lijnen kan je vroegtijdig en gericht adviseren.

Je hebt een breed en divers takenpakket waarbij je onder meer de werving en selectie coördineert en sollicitatie- en arbeidsvoorwaardengesprekken voert, acties in het kader van de Wet Verbetering Poortwachter bewaakt en leidinggevenden hierbij ondersteunt. Verder ben je verantwoordelijk voor het instroom,- doorstroom,- en uitstroomproces waarvan het administratieve gedeelte grotendeels geautomatiseerd is.

Naast je dagelijkse werkzaamheden heb je een actieve rol in projecten die bijdragen aan de verdere professionalisering van zowel de organisatie als HR. Je werkt mee aan – of neemt de lead in – uitdagende initiatieven, zoals het optimaliseren van ons buddyprogramma voor nieuwe collega’s en het vernieuwen en versterken van het werving- en selectieproces binnen het NIOO.

Heb jij affiniteit met Werving & Selectie en krijg je energie van het slimmer, innovatiever en efficiënter maken van recruitmentprocessen? We zoeken iemand die met frisse ideeën komt en kansen ziet om bijvoorbeeld AI-tools en andere moderne oplossingen in te zetten om recruitment naar een hoger niveau te tillen.

PhD Candidate Cross-Ecosystem Modelling in the Surface Links project - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

We are looking for a PhD candidate to join a project on aquatic–terrestrial coupling of trophic interactions in urban ecosystems. The project focuses on understanding how environmental changes, particularly artificial light at night (ALAN) and temperature, reshapes ecological interactions across ecosystem boundaries. The research will combine ecological theory, mechanistic modelling, empirical data integration, and communication across disciplines.

Ecosystems are increasingly understood as interconnected meta-systems in which flows of energy, organisms, and matter cross traditional habitat boundaries. Aquatic insects, such as chironomids and mosquitoes, play a key role in linking aquatic and terrestrial food webs through their complex life cycles. Yet current ecological models often stop at the water surface and do not adequately capture these cross-ecosystem interactions.

In this PhD project, you will develop and integrate spatially explicit aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem models to investigate how urban stressors influence trophic linkages between under- and above-water food webs. You will extend existing aquatic ecosystem models such as PCLake with insect life-cycle dynamics and connect these with models describing airborne insect movement, aggregation, and predation by bats.

The project combines theoretical model development with empirical parameterisation and validation using field observations, monitoring datasets, laboratory experiments, and automated ecological observations. The work will involve close collaboration with ecologists inside and outside NIOO, experts in ecosystem modelling, and empirical researchers across ecological domains.

You will also contribute to communicating complex ecological concepts and modelling outcomes to interdisciplinary scientific audiences such as . We therefore value candidates who enjoy bridging scientific perspectives and who are motivated to connect theory, modelling, and empirical ecology.

Directeur Data Archiving & Networked Services - DANS - KNAW

De KNAW zoekt voor het instituut Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) in Den Haag een inspirerende en ondernemende directeur met een aansprekende visie op datagebruik en -archivering in het onderzoeksveld, bekendheid met het (inter)nationale research datalandschap en uitstekende leidinggevende en bestuurlijke kwaliteiten.

Lees meer over deze functie en solliciteer via deze pagina van onze recruitmentpartner.

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PhD position: aboveground-belowground linkages in beech masting dynamics - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

Every day, hidden ecological processes unfold right below our feet. Are you excited about belowground ecology and interested in combining long-term ecological data, soil ecology, fieldwork, and predictive modelling to understand how forests respond to global change? We are looking for a PhD candidate to investigate how belowground processes contribute and respond to mast seeding dynamics in European beech (Fagus sylvatica).

The production of beech seeds has high inter-annual variability, resulting in “boom” years with high total seed counts (masting) and “bust” years in which very few seeds are produced. These fluctuations have cascading consequences for whole forest food webs, as many animals depend on beech seeds as a key resource. While the climatic drivers of masting are relatively well understood, the role of belowground processes (soil properties, nutrient cycling, soil biota) in shaping resource accumulation and mast seeding remain underexposed. At the same time, masting patterns in many trees, including European beech, are shifting in response to climate change, with potentially major consequences for forest ecosystem functioning above and below ground.

In this interdisciplinary project, you will investigate how belowground processes both shape and respond to masting dynamics. You will combine long-term ecological monitoring with soil ecology and predictive modelling approaches to “open the belowground black box” underlying masting. During the PhD, you will develop skills in ecological field work, experimental design, soil ecology, statistical analysis and predictive ecology, statistical programming (in R), working with long-term data, scientific writing and publishing, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Specifically, you will:

1. Assess spatially explicit, among-individual variation using a 50-year time series of beech seed production at a long-term site in the Netherlands;
2. Collect extensive soil samples for biological and physicochemical characterization, and use sensors to monitor spatiotemporal variation in abiotic conditions; and
3. Conduct controlled experiments with beech litter to understand how mast-driven variation in litter quality influences belowground processes.